ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES

The following list is for use in connection with the short-form citations in Notes to the Introduction (beginning at p. 148 below) and Notes to the Poems (beginning at p. 150 below).

BL S. T. Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, 2 vols (London, 1817); ed. J. Shawcross, 2 vols (Oxford, 1907). EY The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: The Early Years, 1787-1805, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford, 1935); 2nd edn rev. Chester L. Shaver (Oxford, 1967). See also LY and MY, below. HD William Wordsworth, Poems in Two Volumes, ed. Helen Darbishire (Oxford, 1914; 2nd edn, 1952). Hutchinson William Wordsworth, Poems in Two Volumes, ed. Thomas Hutchinson, 2 vols (London, 1897). IF Notes dictated by Wordsworth to Isabella Fenwick. JDW Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, ed. Mary Moorman (Oxford, 1971) - notably the Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals. LSTC Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. E. L. Griggs, 6 vols (Oxford, 1956-71). LY I, II The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: The Later Years, 1821-1834, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford, 1938-9); 2nd edn rev. Alan G. Hill (Oxford, 1978-9). See also EY above, and MY below. MS.L. Longman MS, British Library Add. MS. 47864. [Cf. A Description of the Wordsworth and Coleridge Manuscripts in the Possession of Mr T. Norton Longman, ed. W. Hale White (London, 1897).] MYI The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: The Middle Years, Part I, 1806-1811, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford, 1936); 2nd edn rev. Mary Moorman (Oxford, 1969). MY II The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: The Middle Years, Part II, 1812-1820, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford, 1937); 2nd edn rev. Mary Moorman and Alan G. Hill (Oxford, 1970). See also EY and LY, above. NBSTC The Notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Kathleen Coburn, 3 vols (London, 1957- ). P2V William Wordsworth, Poems, in Two Volumes, Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 2 vols (London, 1807).

146 ABBREVIATIONS 147

Prelude William Wordsworth, The Prelude, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (Oxford, 1926); 2nd edn rev. Helen Darbishire (Oxford, 1959). Prose The Prose Works of William Wordsworth, ed. W. J. B. Owen and Jane W. Smyser, 3 vols (Oxford, 1974). PSTC The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. E. H. Coleridge, 2 vols (Oxford, 1912). PW The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, ed. Ernest de Selincourt and Helen Darbishire, 5 vols (Oxford, 1940-9; 2nd edn rev. issues, 1952-9). Recollections 'Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland' , in J oumals of Dorothy Wordsworth, ed. Ernest de Selincourt (London, 1941). Reed I Mark L. Reed, Wordsworth: The Chronology of the Early Years, 1770-1799 (Cambridge, Mass., 1967). Reed II Mark L. Reed, Wordsworth: The Chronology of the Middle Years, 1800-1815 (Cambridge, Mass., 1975). WW(1815) Poems, 2 vols (London, 1815). WW(1820) The Miscellaneous Poems, 4 vols (London, 1820). WW(1827) The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, 5 vols (London, 1827). WW(1836) The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, 6 vols (London, 1836--7). WW(1838) The Sonnets of William Wordsworth (London, 1838). WW(1842) Poems, Chiefly ofEarly and Late Years (London, 1842). WW(1843) The Poetical Works, 6 vols (London, 1843). WW(1845) The Poems of William Wordsworth (London, 1845). WW(1849) The Poems of William Wordsworth (London, 1849). NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

For fuller details of short-form citations used here, see the Abbreviations section, above.

1. MY I, 41. 2. MY I, 81. 3. EY,634. 4. EY, 459. 5. MY I, 89. 6. MY I, 95. 7. MY I, 96. 8. MS.L. 9. Preface to The Excursion (1814). 10. MYI, 64. 11. LSTC, II, 103 (14 October 1803). 12. Preface to The Excursion (1814). 13. MY I, 103. 14. MY I, 104. 15. MY I, 105. 16. MY I) 121. 17. EY,303-4. 18. MY I, 108. 19. MY I, 122. 20. MY I, 140. 21. MY I, 123. 22. British Library, Ashley Collection 2258. A cutting in this copy refers to the discovery of the volume by J. R. Tutin of Hull; see the Academy, no. 946, p. 424 (21 June 1890). 23. MY I, 147. 24. See Spenser, Virgil's Gnat, lines 9-11. 25. Recent scholars largely agree that Culex was not in fact written by Virgil but by a writer simulating VirgiIian authorship. 26. LY,1907. 27. Poems of Wordsworth (Macmillan, London, 1879). 28. EY, 503. 29. MY I, 86, 87. 30. MY I, 101. 31. MS version, PSTC. 32. Bk XIII, 431. 33. BL, ch. XXII, 129. 34. NBSTC, II, 3231. 35. New Letters of Robert Southey, ed. K. Curry, 2 vols (New York, 1965): vol. I, 448--9 - R. S. to J. Rickman (mid April 1807). 36. MY I, 137. 37. MY I, 183. 38. Letter to Rickman, op. cit. 39. MY I, 103. 40. MY I, 112-20. 41. MY I, 108. 42. MY I, 135. 43. MY I, 124. 44. MY I, 184. 45. E.g., Monthly Literary Advertiser (10 Feb.); Records ofLiterature (March). 46. A similar notice appeared in Literary Panorama, II, para. 653 (June 1807). 47. Longman Joint Commission and Divide Ledger, 1803-7. 48. In the Sun, the British Press, the Courier (28 April); in the Star (29 April); in the Daily Advertiser, Oracle and True Briton (1 May); in the Monthly Literary Advertiser (9 May). 49. See John Edwin Wells, 'Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads, 1820', in Philological Quarterly, XVII (1938), 398--402.

148 NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION 149

50. MY I, 156--7. 51. W. J. B. Owen, 'Costs, Sales, and Profits of Longmans Editions of Wordsworth', in The Library, NS XII (1957), 94-6. 52. Preface, Poems of Wordsworth (London, 1879), p. v. 53. The Farington Diary, by Joseph Farington, R.A., ed. James Greig, 8 vols (London, 1922-8): vol. IV (13 May 1807), 135. 54. Monthly Literary Recreations, III (July 1807), 65-6. 55. Anon., in Critical Review, 3rd series XI (Aug. 1807),399-403. 56. Edinburgh Review, XI (Oct. 1807), 214-31. 57. The Simpliciad: A Satirico-Didactic Poem (London, 1808) - the reputed author Richard Mant (1776--1848). 58. MY 1,225. 59. MY I, 174. 60. MY I, 150. 61. The Farington Diary, op. cit.: vol. v (16 April 1808), 51. 62. MY II, 210. He was clearly gratified by the Grocer's opinion of his poems. 63. MY I, 150. 64. Preface, Poems of Wordsworth (London, 1879), p. vi. 65. See E. H. W. Meyerstein, 'Wordsworth's Ode', Times Literary Supplement (12 Oct. 1946), 500. 66. Reed II, Appendix VII, 687-99. 67. I am indebted to W. H. Kelliher for allowing me to see, before publication, an early draft of his introduction to The Manuscript of William Wordsworth's 'Poems, in Two Volumes' (1807), (British Library, London, 1984). 68. See also Thomas Hutchinson, 'On the Structure ofthe Sonnets of Wordsworth', Transactions of the Wordsworth Society, 2 (n.d.), 27-31. 69. In a letter to Francis Wrangham (4 Nov. 1807), Wordsworth requests that he take a pen and correct in his copy these and other 'gross blunders of the Press': MY I, 174-5. 70. See also HD, 345, where the Indexes are dated 1913. 71. PW, vol. II, 535 et seq. 72. MY I, 174. 73. Reed I, Reed II. NOTES TO THE POEMS

For fuller details of short-form citations used here, see the Abbreviations section, above. The convention of the reversed square bracket - ] - is used to indicate both major variants between MS and printed texts, and also editorial rectification, in this edition of the poems, of printing and similar errors in P2V.

VOL. I

To the Daisy - 'In youth from rock to rock I went' (p. 7) Perhaps written between 16 April & July 1802. This Poem, and two others to the same Flower, which the Reader will find in the second Volume [ourpp.llO& 111 above], were written in the year 1802; which is mentioned, because in some of the ideas, though not in [the] manner in which those ideas are connected, and likewise even in some of the expressions, they bear a striking resemblance to a Poem (lately published) of Mr. Montgomery, entitled, a Field Flower. This being said, Mr. Montgomery will not think any apology due to him; I cannot however help addressing him in the words of the Father of English Poets. Though it happe me to rehersin - That ye han in your freshe songis saied, Forberith me, and beth not ill apaied, Sith that ye se I doe it in the honour Of Love, and eke in service of the Flour. [The Legende of Good Women, 78-82] P2V:WWn. 6 To gentle sympathies awake, MS.L. 45 brief] chance MS.L. 50 one] some MS.L. 59-60 Then, Daisy! do my spirits play; With chearful motion: MS.L. 62 The ground in modest thankfulness MS.L.; thankfulness,] thankfulness P2V 65-8 But more than all I number yet; 0 bounteous Flower! another debt; Which I to thee, wherever met,; Am daily owing; MS.L. 66 through,] throughP2V 77,80 'See, in Chaucer and the elder Poets, the honours formerly paid to this flower.' WW(1815) n.

Louisa (p. 9) Written at Town-End by 9 Feb. 1802, perhaps between 23 & 27 Jan. 1802. Louisa has been variously associated with Dorothy Wordsworth, Mary Wordsworth & Joanna Hutchinson (Mary's younger sister).

150 NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 151

Directions were given by Dorothy Wordsworth to the printer to include this poem towards the end of the second volume of the 1802 edition of Lyrical Ballads, but it was omitted. 11 pass] go LyrB.(1802 MS.) 19 "beneath the moon," - K. Lear (IV vi 26) 23 originally 'When she goes barefoot up the brook' LyrB.(1802 MS.).

Fidelity (p. 10) Probably written between 14 Aug. & 10 Nov. 1805 (certainly by 2 March 1806). The young man whose death gave occasion to this poem was named Charles Gough, and had come early in the spring to Patterdale for the sake of angling. While attempting to cross over Helvellyn to Grasmere he slipped from a steep part of the rock where the ice was not thawed, and perished. His body was discovered as is told in this poem. Walter Scott heard of the accident, and both he and I, without either of us knowing that the other had taken up the subject, each wrote a poem in admiration of the dog's fidelity .... IF For a fuller account of the incident, see EY, pp. 611-12. A different & longer version of the poem is transcribed by Dorothy Wordsworth in a letter to Lady Beaumont, 2 March 1806: MY I, pp. 13-14. See, also, Coleridge's remarks, BL, XXII. 44-6 And signs and circumstances dawn'd / Till everything was clear: / He made discovery of his name, MS.L.

'She was a Phantom of delighf (p. 12) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & 6 March 1804. '1804. Town-End. The germ of this poem was four lines [lines 13-16] composed as part of the verses on the Highland Girl [po 82 above]. Though beginning in this way, it was written from my heart, as is sufficiently obvious.' - IF. The poem was written, Wordsworth said, on 'his dear wife' - cf. Christopher Wordsworth, Memoirs, II, p. 306.

The Redbreast and the Butterfly (p. 13) Written 18 April 1802. 12 'See Paradise Lost, Book XI, where Adam points out to Eve the ominous sign of the Eagle chasing "two Birds of gayest plume," and the gentle Hart and Hind pursued by their enemy.' WW(1815) n. 35-8 Playmates in the sunny weather? / Like thine own breast / His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, / As ifhe were bone of thy bone: MS.L. 152 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

The Sailors Mother (p. 14) Written 11-12 March 1802.

To the Small Celandine - 'Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies' (p. 15) Probably written 30 April-l May 1802. Grasmere, Town-End, ... It is remarkable that this flower, coming out so early in the Spring as it does, and so bright and beautiful, and in such profusion, should not have been noticed earlier in English verse. What adds much to the interest that attaches to it is its habit of shutting itselfup and opening out according to the degree oflight and temperature of the air. IF To the Same Flower - 'Pleasures newly found are sweet' (p. 17) Dorothy Wordsworth, 1 May 1802: 'Wm. wrote the Celandine 2nd part tonight' - JDW, p. 119. 42 "beneath our shoon;" - Comus, 634-5.

Character of the Happy Warrior (p. 19) Probably written between 6 Dec. 1805 & early Jan. 1806. The source of the great war with the French naturally fixed one's attention upon the military character, and, to the honour of our country, there were many illustrious instances of the qualities that constitute its highest excellence. Lord Nelson carried most of the virtues that the trials he was exposed to in his department of the service necessarily call forth and sustain, if they do not produce the contrary vices. . . . For the sake of such of my friends as may happen to read this note I will add, that many elements of the character here portrayed were found in my brother John, who perished by shipwreck . . . His messmates used to call him the Philosopher, from which it must be inferred that the qualities and dispositions I allude to had not escaped their notice .... He greatly valued moral and religious instruction for youth, as tending to make good sailors .... IF Wordsworth omitted the note on Nelson (p. 21) in all editions after 1807. Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar (21 Oct. 1805); John Wordsworth died in the shipwreck of the Earl of Abergavenny (5 Feb. 1805). The poet is perhaps also remembering Beaupuy: Prelude, IX. He was probably influenced by Samuel Daniel's Funeral Poem on the Earl of Devonshire. 14 For Knightes ever should be persevering To seek honour without feintise or slouth Fro wele to better in all manner thing. CHAUCER - The Floure and the Leafe P2V:WWn. NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 153

(The Floure and the Leafe, formerly ascribed to Chaucer, is an anonymous 15th-century poem.) 45-7 Whose powers apparent in the common strife / And mild concerns of ordinary life, / Shed round him at all times peculiar grace; MSL. 62 such] this MS.L. 64 More brave for this,] Brave for this cause, MSL.

The Horn of Egremont Castle (p. 21) Possibly written between 30 Oct. & early Dec. 1806. 'This Story is a Cumberland tradition; I have heard it also related ofthe Hall of Hutton John an antient residence ofthe Huddlestones, in a sequestered Valley upon the River Dacor.' - P2V: WW n. 7 rightful] nightful P2V 104 died.] died P2V.

The Affliction of Margaret --of-- (p. 24) Possibly written in 1800, though Wordsworth dated the poem 1804:

Town-End, Grasmere. 1804. This was taken from the case of a poor widow who lived in the town ofPenrith. Her sorrow was well known to Mary, to my Sister, and, I believe, to the whole town. She kept a shop, and when she saw a stranger passing by, she was in the habit of going out into the street to inquire of him after her son. IF Coleridge singled out this poem particularly as an example of Wordsworth's 'meditative pathos, a sympathy with man as man; . . . that most affecting composition, The Affliction of Margaret -- of --, which no mother, and, if I may judge by my own experience, no parent can read without a tear.' - BL, XXII. Title: The Affliction of Mary --of-- (written for the Lyrical Ballads) introduced by 12 lines subsequently deleted though title again given as The Affliction of Mary --of-- MS.L. 2 art] are P2V.

The Kitten and the Falling Leaves (p. 27) Written possibly between early Oct. 1804 & early 1805 - cf. NBSTC, I, entry 1813. Dora was born on 16 Aug. 1804 & died 9 July 1847; after her death 'Laura's' was changed to 'Dora's'. 120 extacy;] extacy, P2V.

The Seven Sisters (p. 30) Written 1800, probably by 17 Aug., & first published in the Morning Post, 14 Oct. 1800. 'The Story of this Poem is from the German of FREDERICA BRUN.' -P2V: WW n. 42 kind!"] kind! P2V 51-2 The sisters ran like mountain Sheep, / And in together did they leap, MS.L. 154 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

To H.G., Six Years Old (p. 32) Probably written between 4 March & 4 April 1802. H. C. is Hartley, Coleridge's eldest son, born 19 Sept. 1796; he would have been six years old in 1802. Coleridge quotes from the poem in a letter to Thomas Poole, dated 4 Oct. 1803: 'Hartley is what he always was - a strange Boy - "exquisitely wild"!' - LSTC, II, p. 1014. 6-8 'See Carver's Description of his Situation upon one ofthe Lakes of America.' P2V: WW n. [Jonathan Carver, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America (1778), p. 133: 'When it was calm and the sun shone bright, I could sit in my canoe, when the depth was upwards of six fathoms and plainly see huge piles of stone at the bottom. The water at this time was as pure and transparent as air; and my canoe seemed as if it hung suspended in that element.'] 28 unkindly] untimely MS.L.

'Among all lovely things my Love had been' (p. 33) Written 12 April 1802. See JDW, p. 111, where Dorothy refers to this poem as the 'Glowworm'.

'I travell'd among unknown Men' (p. 34) Probably written shortly before 29 April 1801. Originally intended for inclusion in the 1802 edition of Lyrical Ballads, together with other 'Lucy' poems with which it belongs. 10 The gladness of desire Lyr.B.(1802 MS.).

Ode to Duty (p. 34) Probably written early in 1804, & by 6 March; first stanza added between late March 1804 & early Dec. 1806. 'This Ode is on the model of Gray's Ode to Adversity which is copied from Horace's Ode to For- tune . ... ' -IF. It is clear from MS.L. that this poem gave particular problems. An earlier version of the opening stanzas survives as cancelled leaves bound into British Library, Ashley 2258. In MS.L. one stanza is in Coleridge'S hand: o Power of Duty! sent from God To enforce on earth his high behest, And keep us faithful to the road Which conscience hath pronounc'd the best: Thou, who art Victory and Law, When empty terrors overawe: From vain temptations dost set free, From Strife, and from Despair, a glorious Ministry! Though figuring in stanza 4 in MS.L., lines 5-8 are printed in the Ode's opening stanza in the 1807 volume. NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 155

Coleridge at this time was much concerned with questions of Duty, Inclination and Love: Deeply important that Incarnation & Transfiguration of Duty as Inclination, ? when it is that a sense of Duty lessens inclination - from what imperfection in the sense this arises - & how a perfect sense makes it impossible to will aught else. This height of Love/-Reality in the external world an instance of a Duty perfectly felt. How to make Duty add to Inclination. The necessary tendency of true Love to generate a feeling of Duty by increasing the sense of reality, & vice versa feeling of Duty to generate true Love .... NBSTC, III: entry 3026, Feb.-May 1807 Cf. '- But Mortal Life seems destined for no continuous Happiness save that which results from the exact performance of Duty - and blessed are you, dear William! whose Path of Duty lies thro' vine-trellised Elm- groves, thro' Love and Joy & Grandeur.' - LSTC, II, p. 553. Title: the following motto was added in 1836: Jam non consilio bonus, sed more eo perductus, ut non tantum recte facere passim, sed nisi recte facere non possim! (Trans.: 'Now I am not intentionally good, but from habit I have reached the point that not only am I capable of acting rightly but cannot act other than rightly' - modified from Seneca's Moral Epistles, cxx, 10.) 1 See Paradise Lost, IX, 652-3: 'God so commanded, and left that command / Sole Daughter of his voice.' 31 Cf. 'And shove away the worthy bidden guest.' - Lycidas, 118. 46 Milton defends the dignity of man from 'empty and over-dignifi'd precepts' - 'Dedication to the Parliament of England,' The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 6! 'Be lowly wise; / Think only what concerns thee and thy being.' - Raphael's warning to Adam, Paradise Lost, VIII, 172. 63 Cf. Samuel Johnson's Life of Addison: 'Truth ... sometimes attracts regard in the robe of fancy, and sometimes steps forth in the confidence of reason.'

Beggars (p. 37) Written 13-14 March 1802. Dorothy Wordsworth describes the incident in her diary for 10 June 1800: On Tuesday, May 27th, a very tall woman, tall much beyond the measure of tall women, called at the door. She had on a very long brown cloak, and a very white cap without Bonnet - her face was excessively brown, but it had plainly once been fair. She led a little bare-footed child about 2 years old by the hand and said her husband who was a tinker was gone before with the other children. I gave her a piece of Bread. Afterwards on my road to Ambleside, beside the Bridge at Rydale, I saw her husband sitting by the roadside, his two asses feeding beside him and the two young children at play upon the grass. The man did not beg. I passed on 156 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

and about % of a mile further I saw two boys before me, one about 10 the other about 8 years old at play chasing a butterfly. They were wild figures, not very ragged, but without shoes and stockings; the hat of the elder was wreathed round with yellow flowers, the younger whose hat was only a rimless crown, had stuck it round with laurel leaves. They continued at play till I drew very near and then they addressed me with the Beggars' cant and the whining voice of sorrow. I said I served your mother this morning. (The Boys were so like the woman who had called at the door that I could not be mistaken.) O! says the elder you could not serve my mother for she's dead and my father's on at the next town - he's a potter. I persisted in my assertion and that I would give them nothing. Says the elder, Come, let's away, and away they flew like lightning. JDW, p. 26 Wordsworth said that he wrote the poem to exhibit 'the power of physical beauty and the charm of health and vision in childhood even in a state of the greatest moral depravity' - letter to Thomas Robinson, March 1808, in H. Crabb Robinson, Correspondence . .. with the Wordsworth Circle, ed. E. J. Morley (London, 1927), I, p. 53. See 'Sequel to "Beggars" Composed Many Years After'. 5' "What other dress she had I could not know", you must allow is a villainous line, one of the very worst in my whole writings.' LY, I, p.640. 18 See Spenser's 'Muiopotmos; or the Fate of the Butterfly', 213.

To a Sky-Lark (p. 38) Written probably between about March & 29 July 1802. Entitled Ode To a Skylark in MSL. 26-9 See Shelley's poem, To a Skylark.

'With how sad steps, 0 Moon thou climb'st the sky' (p. 39) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. 1-2 Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, XXXI.

Alice Fell (p. 39) Written 12-13 March 1802. As with Beggars, Wordsworth draws on his sister Dorothy's Journal for the materials of the poem: Mr Graham said he wished Wm had been with him the other day- he was riding in a post chaise and he heard a strange cry that he could not understand, the sound continued and he called to the chaise driver to stop. It was a little girl that was crying as if her heart would burst. She had got up behind the chaise and her cloak had been caught by the wheel and was jammed in and it hung there. She was crying after it. Poor thing. Mr Graham took her into NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 157

the chaise and the cloak was released from the wheel but the child's misery did not cease for her cloak was torn to rags; it had been a miserable cloak before, but she had no other and it was the greatest sorrow that could befal her. Her name was Alice Fell. She had no parents, and belonged to the next Town. At the next Town Mr G left money with some respectable people in the town to buy her a new cloak. JDW, p. 92 Resolution and Independence (p. 41) Early version written 3-7 May 1802, revised 9 May & again between 14 June & 4 July 1802. Town-End, ... This old man I met a few hundred yards from my cottage at Town-End, Grasmere; and the account of him is taken from his own mouth. I was in the state of feeling described in the beginning of the poem, while crossing over Barton Fell from Mr. Clarkson's at the foot ofUllswater, towards Askam. The image of the hare I then observed on the ridge of the Fell. IF Dorothy Wordsworth describes the incident on which the poem is based in her entry of 3 Oct. 1800: N.B. When Wm and I returned from accompanying Jones we met an old man almost double, he had on a coat thrown over his shoulders above his waistcoat and coat. Under this he carried a bundle and had an apron on and a night cap. His face was interesting. He had dark eyes and a long nose. John who afterwards met him at Wythburn took him for a Jew. He was of Scotch parents but had been born in the army. He had a wife 'and a good woman and it pleased God to bless us with ten children'. All these were dead but one of whom he had not heard for many years, a sailor. His trade was to gather leeches, but now leeches are scarce and he had not strength for it. He lived by begging and was making his way to Carlisle where he should buy a few godly books to sell. He said leeches were very scarce partly owing to this dry season, but many years they have been scarce - he supposed it owing to their being much sought after, that they did not breed fast, and were of slow growth. Leeches were formerly 2/6 [per] 100; they are now 30/-. [Sc. 2 shillings & six pence; and 30 shillings.] He had been hurt in driving a cart, his leg broke his body driven over his skull fractured. He felt no pain till he recovered from his first insensibility. JDW, p. 42

In an early version of the poem sent to Mary and Sara Hutchinson, Wordsworth had clearly indicated details of the leech-gatherer's background, his wife and his ten children, which had displeased them. To Sara he wrote (14 June 1802), offering his interpretation of the poem: 158 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

I describe myself as having been exalted to the highest pitch of delight by the joyousness and beauty of Nature and then as depressed, even in the midst of those beautiful objects, to the lowest dejection and despair. A young Poet in the midst of the happiness of Nature is described as overwhelmed by the thought of the miserable reverses which have befallen the happiest of all men, viz Poets - I think of this till I am so deeply impressed by it, that I consider the manner in which I was rescued from my dejection and despair almost as an interposition of Providence. 'Now whether it was by peculiar grace A leading from above.' A person reading this Poem with feelings like mine will have been awed and controuled, expecting almost something spiritual or supernatural - What is brought forward? 'A lonely place, a Pond' 'by which an old man was, far from all house or home' - not stood, not sat, but 'was' - the figure presented in the most naked simplicity possible. This feeling of spirituality or supernaturalness is again referred to as being strong in my mind in this passage - 'How came he here thought I or what can he be doing?' I then describe him, whether ill or well is not for me to judge with perfect confidence, but this I can confidently affirm, that, though I believe God has given me a strong imagination, I cannot conceive a figure more impressive than that of an old Man like this, the survivor of a Wife and ten children, travelling alone among the mountains and all lonely places, carrying with him his own fortitude, and the necessities which an unjust state of society has entailed upon him...... whether you are pleased or not with this Poem . .. it is of the utmost importance that you should have had pleasure from contemplating the fortitude, independence, persevering spirit, and the general moral dignity of this old man's character.... EY, pp. 366--7 Most of the revisions date from 1820 after the publication of Biographia Literaria in which Coleridge used the poem to give an instance of the inconstancy of Wordsworth's style - 'sudden and unprepared transitions from lines or sentences of peculiar felicity (at all events striking and original) to a style, not only unimpassioned but undistinguished'. He singled out lines 59-63 as an example oflanguage 'which is only proper in prose'. Wordsworth omitted the whole stanza in 1820. 5 'The Stock-dove is said to coo, a sound well imitating the note of the bird; but by intervention of the metaphor "broods", the affections are called in by the imagination to assist in marking the manner in which the bird reiterates and prolongs her soft note, as if herself delighting to listen to it, and participating of a still and quiet satisfaction, like that which may be supposed inseparable from the continuous process of incubation.' WW(1815): Preface. 43 The poem is written in the same metre as Chatterton's 'Excellent Ballade of Charitie', which has a similar theme. 45-6 Robert Burns. NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 159

64-72 'In these images, the conferring, the abstracting, and the modifying powers of the Imagination, immediately and mediately acting, are all brought into conjunction. The Stone is endowed with something of the power of life to approximate it to the Sea-beast; and the Sea-beast stripped of some of its vital qualities to assimilate it to the Stone; which intermediate image is thus treated for the purpose of bringing the original image, that ofthe Stone, to a nearer resemblance to the figure and condition of the aged Man; who is divested of so much of the indications of life and motion as to bring him to the point where the two objects unite and coalesce in just comparison.' WW(1815): Preface.

Prefatory Sonnet (p. 46) Perhaps written late 1802. On his interest in the sonnet-form, Wordsworth records: In the cottage of Town End, one afternoon in 1801 [a memory-error for 1802; his sister's Journal dates the occasion 21 May 1802], my Sister read to me the Sonnets of Milton. I had long been acquainted with them, but I was particularly struck on that occasion by the dignified simplicity and majestic harmony that runs through most of them, - in character so totally different from the Italian, and still more so from Shakespeare's fine Sonnets. I took fire, if I may be allowed to say so, and produced three sonnets the same afternoon, the first I ever wrote except an irregular one at school [this also is a memory-error]. Of these three, the only one I distinctly remember is 'I grieved for Buonaparte'. One was never written down: the third, which was, I believe, preserved, I cannot particularise. IF In a letter dated Nov. 1802, he wrote: Milton's Sonnets . . . I think manly and dignified compositions, distinguished by simplicity and unity of object and aim, and undisfigured by false or vicious ornaments. They are in several places incorrect, and sometimes uncouth in language, and, perhaps, in some, inharmonious; yet, upon the whole, I think the music exceedingly well suited to its end, that is, it has an energetic and varied flow of sound crowding into narrow room more of the combined effect of rhyme and blank verse than can be done by any other kind of verse I know of. .. . EY, p. 379

'How sweet it is, when mother Fancy rocks' (p. 46) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804.

'Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go?' (p. 47) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. 160 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

Composed after a Journey across the Hamilton Hills, Yorkshire (p. 47) Probably written 4 Oct. 1802: 'after a journey over the Hambleton Hills, on a day memorable to me - the day of my marriage ...' - IF. Title: Hamilton] Hambleton [the modern spelling] WW(1832). Dorothy Wordsworth writes: It was not dark evening when we passed the little publick house, but before we had crossed the Hambledon hills and reached the point overlooking Yorkshire it was quite dark. We had not wanted, however, fair prospects before us, as we drove along the flat plain of the high hill, far far off us, in the western sky, we saw shapes of Castles, Ruins among groves, a great, spreading wood, rocks, and single trees, a minster with its tower unusually distinct, minarets in another quarter, and a round Grecian Temple also - the colours of the sky of a bright grey and the forms of a sober grey, with a dome. JDW,p.156

'These words were utter'd in a pensive mood' (p. 48) Probably written between 4 Oct. 1802 & 6 March 1804. For the epigraph, see the last lines of the preceding sonnet.

To Sleep - '0 gentle Sleep! do they belong to thee' (p. 48) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802. Wordsworth's sleeping is a constant source of anxiety to Dorothy in her Journals. For example, 29 Jan. 1802: 'William was very unwell. Worn out by his bad night's rest - he went to bed - I read to him to endeavour to make him sleep'; and 31 Jan. 1802: 'William had slept very ill-he was tired!'; also 1 Feb. 1802: 'Wm. slept badly'; and again, 3 Feb. 1802: 'William tired and did not compose. He went to bed soon and could not sleep' - JDW, pp. 81, 82, 83, 84.

To Sleep - 'A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by' (p. 49) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802. 6 birds'] birds P2V.

To Sleep - 'Fond words have oft been spoken to thee, Sleep!' (p. 49) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802. 2 hast] has P2V.

'With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh' (p. 50) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. 8 'From a passage in Skelton, which I cannot here insert, not having the Book at hand.' P2V: WW n. [The reference is to Skelton, Bowge of Court, lines 36-8: 'Methought I saw a ship, goodly of sail, / Come sailing forth into that haven broad, / Her tackling rich and of high apparel.'] NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 161

To the River Duddon (p. 50) Possibly written between 27 Sept. & Oct. 1804 (certainly by March 1806). 12 through] though P2V.

From the Italian of Michael Angelo (p. 51) A translation of Michelangelo's Sonnet LX, completed by 24 Aug. 1805. Of his translations from Michelangelo, Wordsworth records that they were 'done at the request of Mr. Duppa, whose acquaintance I made through Mr. Southey. Mr. Duppa was engaged in writing the life of Michael Angelo, and applied to Mr. Southey and myself to furnish him some specimens of his poetic genius.' -IF This sonnet was first published in Richard Duppa's Life and Literary Works of Michel Angelo Buonarroti (London, 1806). In a letter of 17 & 24 Oct. 1805 to Sir George Beaumont, enclosing a copy of this translation, Wordsworth says: I mentioned Michael Angelo's Poetry some time ago, it is the most difficult to construe I ever met with, but just what you would expect from such a man, shewing abundantly how conversant his soul was with great things .... so much meaning has been put by Michael Angelo into so little room, and that meaning sometimes so excellent in itself that I found the difficulty of translating him insurmountable. I attempted at least fifteen of the sonnets but could not any where succeed, I have sent you the only one I was able to finish, it is far from being the best or most characteristic, but the others were too much for me. EY, pp. 628-9

From the Same - 'No mortal object did these eyes behold' (p. 51) A translation of Michelangelo's Sonnet LII, composed probably between 7 Nov. 1805 & 8 Sept. 1806.

From the Same. .To the Supreme Being (p. 52) A translation of Michelangelo's Sonnet LXXXIX, composed probably between 7 Nov. 1805 & early 1806 (certainly before 1 Aug. 1806).

Written in very early Youth (p. 52) Dated by Wordsworth 1786 but probably written between late 1788 & the end of 1791; first published in the Morning Post, 13 Feb. 1802. 8 Home-felt - Comus, 262.

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3,1803 (p. 53) Perhaps written on 31 July 1802 but probably not completed until 3 162 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

Sept. 1802. 'Composed on the roof of a coach, on my way to France Sept. 1802.'-IF. The sonnet maintained the date 'Sept. 3, 1803' until 1838 when Wordsworth corrected it to 'Sept 3,1802'. Dorothy Wordsworth writes: After various troubles and disasters we left London on Saturday morning at 1j2 past 5 or 6, the 31st July (I have forgot which). We mounted the Dover Coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful morning. The City, St Paul's, with the River and a multitude of little Boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke and they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly with such a pure light that there was even something like the purity of one of nature's own grand spectacles. JDW, pp. 150-1

'''Beloved Vale!" I said, "when I shall con' (p. 53) Written between 21 May & late 1802 (possibly by 25 Dec. 1802). 1 Probably the Vale of Esthwaite, near Hawkshead.

'Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne' (p. 54) Written between 21 May & late 1802. 1 This opening echoes Milton's sonnet, 'Methought I saw my late espoused Saint'.

To the --(p. 54) Probably written early Feb. 1807, to Lady Beaumont. 1807. The winter garden of Coleorton, fashioned out of an old quarry under the superintendence and direction of Mrs Wordsworth and my sister Dorothy, during the winter and spring of the year we resided there. IF 2 for] of P2V.

'The world is too much with us; late and soon' (p. 55) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. 11 pleasant lea - cf. Spenser, 'Colin Clouts Come Home Again', 283 12 forlorn;] forlorn P2V 13 Proteus coming from the sea - cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, III, 603-4: 'call up unbound / In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea' 14 old Triton blow his wreathed horn - cf. Spenser, op. cit., 245: 'Is Triton blowing loud his wreathed horne!'

'It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free' (p. 55) Written probably between 1 & 29 Aug. 1802. Wordsworth & his sister NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 163

Dorothy visited Annette Vallon & Caroline in Calais from 1 to 29 Aug. 1802 during the Peace of Amiens. Dorothy writes: The weather was very hot. We walked by the sea-shore almost every evening with Annette and Caroline or Wm and I alone .... It was also beautiful on the calm hot night to see the little Boats row out of harbour with wings of fire and the sail boats with the fiery track which they cut as they went along and which closed up after them with a hundred thousand sparkles balls shootings, and streams of glowworm light. Caroline was delighted. JDW, pp. 152-3 9 Dear Child! dear Girl! - Caroline, Wordsworth's daughter by Annette Vallon and then ten years old. 12 Abraham's bosom - cf. St Luke, xvi, 22.

To the Memory of Raisley Calvert (p. 56) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. Calvert died on 9/10 Jan. 1795, aged 21. Wordsworth nursed him during the long illness preceding his death. He bequeathed the poet a legacy of £900 to enable him to dedicate himself entirely to poetry; 'the act was done', Wordsworth wrote later, 'entirely from a confidence on his part that I had powers and attainments which might be of use to mankind' - EY, p. 541. 11-12 Cf. Lycidas, 87: 'That strain I heard was of a higher mood.'

Composed by the Sea-Side, near Calais, August, 1802 (p. 56) Probably written between 1 & 29 Aug. 1802.

Calais, August, 1802 - 'Is it a Reed that's shaken by the wind' (p. 57) Probably written between 1 & 29 Aug. 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 13 Jan. 1803. 1-2 Cf. St Matthew, xi, 7. ~7 Napoleon was made First Consul for life on 2 Aug. 1802.

To a Friend, Composed near Calais . .. August 7th, 1802 (p. 57) Probably written either 1 or 7 Aug. 1802. In August, 1790, I set off for the continent in companionship with Robert Jones, a Welshman, a fellow-collegean. We crossed from Dover and landed at Calais on the eve of the day when the king was to swear fidelity to the new constitution; an event which was solemnised with due pomp at Calais. On the afternoon of that day we started, and slept at Ardres. Christopher Wordsworth, Memoirs, I, p. 14. 164 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

'J griev'd for Buonaparte, with a vain' (p. 58) Probably written 21 May 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 16 Sept. 1802.

Calais, August 15th, 1802 - 'Festivals have I seen .. .' (p. 58) Probably written 15 Aug. 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 26 Feb. 1803.

On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic (p. 59) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & early Feb. 1807. 1-2 Venice was a rich & powerful maritime power, an important centre for trade, particularly with the East, as well as guarding Europe from Turkish invasion. 8 On Ascension Day the Doge symbolically married Venice & the Adriatic by dropping a ring into the sea. 12 Napoleon entered Venice on 16 May 1797, overthrowing the Republic; in Oct. 1797 Venice became part of the Austrian empire, under the peace terms dictated by France.

The King of Sweden (p. 59) Probably written between late 1804 & early Feb. 1807. Writing to John Scott, 25 Feb. 1816, Wordsworth observes: In verse I celebrated the King of Sweden - he proved, I believe, a Madman - what matters that - he stood forth at that time as the only Royal Advocate of the only truths by which, if judiciously applied, Europe could be delivered from Bondage. I seized on him as an outstanding object in which to embody certain principles of action which human nature has thousands oftimes proved herself capable of being governed by. MY, II, pp. 282-3 2 crowned Youth-Gustavus IV became king in 1792 at the age of14.

To Toussaint L'Ouverture (p. 60) Probably written between 1 & 29 Aug. 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 2 Feb. 1803. Fran~ois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803), a negro revolutionist, became governor of San Domingo (Haiti) in 1801. He resisted Napoleon's reintroduction of slavery and was imprisoned in France, where he died in 1803. His fate aroused considerable sympathy, particularly among Abolitionists.

September 1st, 1802 - 'We had a fellow-Passenger who came' (p. 60) Probably written between 29 Aug. & 1 Sept. 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 11 Feb. 1803, there entitled 'The Banished Negroes'. In WW(1827) the following headnote was added: NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 165

Among the capricious acts of Tyranny that disgraced these times, was the chasing of all Negroes from France by decree of the Government: we had a Fellow-passenger who was one of the expelled.

Composed in the Valley, near Dover, On the Day of landing (p. 61) Probably written 30 Aug. 1802.

September, 1802 - 'Inland, within a hollow Vale, I stood' (p. 61) Probably written 30 Aug. 1802. The next day was very hot. We both bathed and sate upon the Dover Cliffs and looked upon France with many a melancholy and tender thought. We could see the shores almost as plain as if i t were but an English Lake . .. . JDW, p. 153

Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland (p. 62) Probably written between 30 Oct. 1806 & Jan. 1807. Switzerland was invaded by the French in the spring of 1798. Coleridge considered this to be 'one of the noblest Sonnets in our language' (The Friend, 21 Dec. 1809); and Wordsworth, writing to Richard Sharp, 27 Sept. 1808, thought it 'as being the best I had written' - MY, I, p. 265.

Written in London, September, 1802 - '0 Friend! I know not .. .' (p. 62) Wordsworth records: This was written immediately after my return from France to London, when I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted with the quiet, and I may say the desolation, that the revolution had produced in France .... IF 4 Rapine, avarice - cf. Milton, Sonnet to Fairfax, 13-14: 'In vain doth Valour bleed I While Avarice and Rapine share the land.'

London, 1802 - 'Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour' (p. 63) Probably written Sept. 1802. 'My admiration of some of the Sonnets of Milton first tempted me to write in that form.' WW(1838): Advertisement.

'Great Men have been among us; hands that penn'd' (p. 63) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802. Algernon Sidney (1622-83), Andrew Marvell (1621-78), James 166 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

Harington (1611-77) & Sir Henry Vane the Younger (1613-62) were puritan & parliamentary intellectuals prominent during the Commonwealth period. Vane & Sidney were subsequently charged on political indictments & executed.

'It is not to be thought of that the Flood' (p. 64) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 16 April 1803. 4 Cf. Samuel Daniel, Civil Wars, II, 7.

'When I have borne in memory what has tamed' (p. 64) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 17 Sept. 1803, there entitled 'England'.

October, 1803 - 'One might believe that natural miseries' (p. 65) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & Jan. 1804. In Oct. 1803 Napoleon's invasion of England seemed imminent. 11 such] with MS.L.

'There is a bondage which is worse to bear' (p. 65) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802.

October, 1803 - 'These times touch money'd Worldlings with dismay' (p.66) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & early Jan. 1804.

'England! the time is come when thou shouldst wean' (p. 66) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802.

October, 1803 - 'When, looking on the present face of things' (p. 67) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & early Jan. 1804.

To the Men of Kent. October, 1803 (p. 67) Probably written between 25 Sept & 14 Oct. 1803. It refers to the tradition that the inhabitants of Kent, east of the Medway, remained unconquered by the Normans: cf. Drayton, The Barons' Wars, I, 323-4.

October, 1803 - 'Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game' (p.68) Probably written between 14 & 31 Oct. 1803.

Before breakfast we walked to the Pass of Killicrankie . . . an invasion was hourly looked for, and one could not but think with NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. I 167

some regret of the times when from the now depopulated Highlands forty or fifty thousand men might have been poured down for the defence of the country, under such leaders as the Marquis of Montrose or the brave man who had so distinguished himself upon the ground where we were standing. Recollections: 8 Sept. 1803. 11 '''Oh! for a single hour of that Dundee". See an anecdote related in Mr. Scott's Border Minstrelsy.' P2V: WW n. Scott's anecdote testifies to the legendary courage of John Graham of Claverhouse, Lord Dundee (1649-89) in the Jacobite cause, notably at the battle of Killiecrankie, 17 July 1689: 'An old soldier told the editor that on the field of battle at Sheriffmuir [13 Nov. 1715] an old veteran urged the Earl of Mar to order the Highlanders to charge before the regular army of Argyle had formed their line. Mar repeatedly answered that it was not yet time, till the old chieftain turned from him in disdain and despair, and stamping with rage exclaimed aloud "0 for one hour of Dundee!".'

Anticipation. October, 1803 - 'Shout, for a mighty Victory is won!' (p.68) Probably written between 1 & 14 Oct. 1803; first published in the Courier, 28 Oct. 1803. 13 enjoys] approves MS.L.

November, 1806 - 'Another year! - another deadly blow!' (p. 69) Probably written between 30 Oct. 1806 & late Feb. 1807. 2 Prussia was defeated at the battle of Jena, 14 Oct. 1806. 10 William Pitt died in Jan. 1806 & Charles James Fox in the following Sept. 1~14 'These two lines from Lord Brooke's Life of Sir Philip Sydney.' P2V: WW n. [Cf. ch. VIII of the Life: 'In which view, nature guiding his eyes, first to his Native Country, he found greatness of worth, and place, counterpoysed there by the arts of power, and favor. The stirring spirits sent abroad as fewell, to keep the flame far off: and the effeminate made judges of danger which they fear and honor which they understand not.' - The Life of the Renowned Sir Philip Sidney (London, 1652)]

VOL. II

Rob Roy's Grave (p. 73) Written between Sept. 1805 & 21 Feb. 1806. 'I have since been told that I was misinformed as to the burial place of Rob Roy' - IF. He was buried in Balquhidder churchyard. Rob Roy (Robert MacGregor), Highland outlaw & folk hero (1671-1734) was 'as famous ... as ever 168 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

Robin Hood was in the Forest of Sherwood; he also robbed the rich, giving to the poor, and defending them from oppression' - Recollections: 27 Aug. 1803. 10 'The people of the neighbourho[o]d of Loch Ketterine, in order to prove the extraordinary length of their Hero's arm, tell you that "he could garter his Tartan Stockings below the knee when standing upright." According to their account he was a tremendous Swordsman; after having sought all occasions of proving his prowess, he was never conquered but once, and this not till he was an Old Man.' P2V: WW n. 13-16 Rob Roy was also wise as brave, / As wise in thought as bold in deed: / For in the principles ofthings / He sought his moral creed. MS.L. 17 brave;] brave P2V 17-20 omitted in MS.L.

The Solitary Reaper (p. 77) Probably written 5 Nov. 1805. 'This Poem was suggested by a beautiful sentence in a MS Tour in Scotland written by a Friend, the last line being taken from it verbatim.' - P2V: WW n. [Thomas Wilkinson, Tours to the British Mountains (London, 1824), p. 12: 'Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in Erse as she bended over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt delicious, long after they were heard no more.'] 1 single] singing MS.L. 13 voice] sound MS.L.

Stepping Westward (p. 78) Probably written 3 June 1805 - cf. Recollections: 11 Sept. 1803.

Glen-Almain (p. 79) Probably written between 20 May & 11 June 1805 - cf. Recollections: 9 Sept. 1803.

The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband (p. 80) Probably written between late March 1804 & 1 Nov. 1805 - cf. Recollections: 20 Sept. 1803. 77178 As bad almost as Life can bring MS.L.

To a Highland Girl (p. 82) Probably written between 14 Oct 1803 & 6 March 1804. This delightful creature and her demeanour are particularly described in my Sister's Journal. [Recollections: 28 Aug. 1803.] The sort of prophecy with which the verses conclude has, through God's goodness, been realized; and now, approaching the close of my 73rd year, I have a most vivid remembrance of her and the beautiful objects with which she was surrounded. IF NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 169

Cf. LSTC, II, p. 514: ' ... two highland lasses who kept house in the absence of the Ferry man & his Wife, were very kind - & one of them was beautiful as a Vision 1 & put me & Dorothy in mind ofthe Highland Girl in William's Peter Bell.'

Sonnet (Composed at --Castle) - 'Degenerate Douglas! .. .' (p. 84) Probably written on 18 Sept. 1803. 'The castle here mentioned was Nidpath near Peebles. The person alluded to was the then Duke of Queensberry. The fact was told me by Walter Scott.' - IF. In 1795 the Duke of Queensbury (1724-1810) cut down the woodlands around Drumlanrig Castle and Neidpath Castle in Peebleshire to raise money for a dowry for Maria Fagniani, whom he believed to be his daughter, on her marriage to the Earl of Yarmouth. 1 III wishes shall attend the unworthy Lord MSL. 11 heed:] feel: MSL.

Address to the Sons of Burns (p. 85) Probably written between early Sept. 1805 & 21 Feb. 1806. We looked at Burns's grave with melancholy and painful reflections, repeating to each other his own verses: - 'Is there a man whose judgment clear ... ' We talked of Coleridge'S children and family, then at the foot ofSkiddaw, and our own new-born John a few miles behind it: while the grave of Burns's son, which we had just seen by the side of his father, and some stories heard at Dumfries respecting the dangers his surviving children were exposed to, filled us with melancholy concern, which had a kind of connection with ourselves. Recollections: 18 Aug. 1803.

Yarrow Unvisited (p. 86) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & 6 March 1804. The Yarrow rises above St. Mary's Loch and flows through the Ettrick Forest to join the Tweed north of Selkirk - cf. Recollections: 18 Sept. 1803. 6 marrow = match; thus winsome marrow = handsome match. To busk (cf. epigraph) is to deck. 20 lintwhites = linnets: from Leader Haughs. 37 strath = valley. 38/40 thorough rhymes with Yarrow. 42 Burn-mill: 'Burnmill boy' occurs in Leader Haughs. 64 cf. Leader Haughs, 88. 64 Yarrow!"] Yarrow! P2V.

On the 13 poems grouped as MOODS OF MY OWN MIND: Again, turn to the 'Moods of my own Mind'. There is scarcely a Poem here of above thirty Lines, and very trifling these poems will appear to many; but, omitting to speak of them individually, do they not, taken collectively, fix the attention upon a subject eminently poetical, viz., the interest which objects in nature derive 170 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

from the predominance of certain affections more or less permanent, more or less capable of salutary renewal in the mind of the being contemplating these objects? This is poetic, and essentially poetic ... because it is creative. (Letter to Lady Beaumont, May 1807.) MY, I, p. 147

The printer ignored Wordsworth's instructions in MSL. to arrange these poems in the order 1-5, 7, 8, 6, 10,9, 11-13.

To a Butterfly - 'Stay near me - do not take thy flight!' (p. 88) Written 14 March 1802; cf. JDW, p. 101.

'The Sun has long been set' (p. 88) Written 8 June 1802; cf. JDW, p. 134. 10-11 Cf. Burns, The Twa Dogs, 153-4: 'At Operas an' Plays parading, / Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading:'.

'0 Nightingale! thou surely art' (p. 89) Written between Feb. & April 1807 at Coleorton. Cf. A Guide Through the District of the Lakes - Prose, II, p. 228: 'It is not often that the nightingale resorts to these vales.' 2 fiery heart - cf. Henry VI, Pt III (I iv 87), printed within quotes in WW(1845). 6 Valentine = sweetheart. 13 '... a metaphor expressing the love of seclusion by which this Bird is marked; and characterising its note as not partaking of the shrill and the piercing, and therefore more easily deadened by the intervening shade; yet a note so peculiar and withal so pleasing, that the breeze, gifted with that love of the sound which the Poet feels, penetrates the shades in which it is entombed, and conveys it to the ear of the listener.' WW(1815): Preface.

'My heart leaps up when I behold' (p. 90) Probably written 26 March 1802. 'While I was getting into bed he wrote the Rainbow' - (26 March 1802), JDW, p. 106. Cf. Genesis, ix, 12-17, where the rainbow figures as a token of God's covenant with mankind. 7-9 Used as an epigraph to Ode in WW(1815).

Written in March, While resting on the Bridge at the Foot of Brother's Water (p. 90) Written 16 April 1802; cf. JDW, p. 111. Brother's Water is a lake at the foot of Kirkstone Pass.

The Small Celandine - 'There is a Flower .. .' (p. 91) Probably written 1803 or early 1804. (See note - p. 152 above - to the Celandine poem in Vol. I.) NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 171

'I wandered lonely as a Cloud' (p. 92) Probably written between late March 1804 & early 1807. 'Town-End, 1804 .... The daffodils grew and still grow on the margin of Ullswater and probably may be seen to this day as beautiful in the month of March, nodding their golden heads beside the dancing and foaming waves.' - IF When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as ifthey verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway. JDW: 15 April 1802, p. 109 'The subject of these Stanzas is rather an elementary feeling and simple impression (approaching to the nature of an ocular spectrum) upon the imaginative faculty, than an exertion of it.' - WW(1815): footnote. 3 lonely as a cloud] like a lonely [cloud] MSL. 5 Along] Beside WW(1815) 15-16 Described by Wordsworth as 'The two best lines' in the poem & written by his wife: IF (Coleridge disagreed - see BL, XXII).

'Who fancied what a pretty sight' (p. 92) Probably written between late March 1804 & early April 1807. Wordsworth gives 1803 as date of composition. 10 Queen,] Queen P2V.

The Sparrow's Nest (p. 93) Probably written MarchJApril1802; cf. IF. 15-17 Cf. Charles Churchill, Independence, 42-3: 'The blessing she bestow'd - she gave them eyes, / And they could see; she gave them ears - they heard.' 18 Cf. Prelude, XIV, 230: 'Of humble cares and delicate desires'.

Gipsies (p. 94) Probably written about 26 Feb. 1807; cf. BL, XXII. 21 strife,] strife P2V. 172 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

To the Cuckoo (p. 94) Written between 23 & 26 March 1802. See JDW, entries for 23 & 26 March 1802, pp. 105 & 106. Wordsworth considered that there is 'an imaginative influence in the voice of the cuckoo, when that voice has taken possession of a deep mountain valley, very different from anything which can be excited by the same sound in a flat country'. -A Guide Through the District of the Lakes - Prose, II, p. 228. In 1815 he comments on '0 Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird, / Or but a wandering Voice?' (3-4): This concise interrogation characterizes the seeming ubiquity of the voice of the cuckoo, and dispossesses the creature almost of a corporeal existence; the Imagination being tempted to this exertion of her power by a consciousness in the memory that the cuckoo is almost perpetually heard throughout the season of spring, but seldom becomes an object of sight. WW(1815): Preface

To a Butterfly - 'I've watch'd you now a full half hour' (p. 96) Written 20 April 1802; see JDW, p. 113.

'It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown' (p. 96) Written probably between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804; cf. IF. This poem was omitted from the Table of Contents in P2V.

The Blind Highland Boy (p. 98) Probably written between March 1804 & March 1806. 'The incident upon which this Poem is founded was related to me by an eye witness.' P2V: WW n. 'The story was told me by George Mackreth, for many years parish-clerk of Grasmere. He had been an eye-witness of the occurence. The vessel in reality was a washing-tub, which the little fellow had met with on the shore of the Loch.' - IF. In 1815, at Coleridge's suggestion, a turtle-shell was substituted for the household tub; see NBSTC, III: entry 3240. It is recorded in Dampier's Voyages that a Boy, the Son of a Captain of a Man of War, seated himself in a Turtle-Shell and floated in from the shore to his Father's Ship, which lay at anchor at the distance of half a mile. Upon the suggestion of a Friend, I have substituted such a Shell for that less elegant vessel in which my blind voyager did actually intrust himself to the dangerous current of Loch Levin, as was related to me by an Eye-Witness. WW(1815) n. This entailed substantial revision. 26 no doubt] no, doubt P2V 70 Bring] Brings P2V 71 whate'er] what'eer P2V. NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 173

The Green Linnet (p. 104) Probably written between 16 April & 8 July 1802.

To a Young Lady, Who had been reproached for taking long Walks in the Country (p.105) Probably written between 23 & 27 Jan. 1802; first published in the Morning Post, 12 Feb. 1802, under the title 'To a beautiful Young Lady, who had been harshly spoken of on account of her fondness for taking long walks in the Country'. Wordsworth later observed: 'Composed at the same time and on the same view as "I met Louisa in the Shade". Indeed, they were designed to make one piece.' - IF. The young lady has been variously identified as Dorothy Wordsworth, Mary Hutchinson & Joanna Hutchinson, but is probably a composite figure. Yet see Harriett Martineau's report of the poet's views in old age: 'He was kind enough to be very anxious lest I should overwalk myself. Both he and Mrs. Wordsworth repeatedly bade me take warning by his sister, who had lost first her strength, and then her sanity by extreme improvidence in that way .. .' - Harriet Martineau's Autobiography with Memorials, Marion Weston Chapman, 3 vols (London, 1871), II, pp. 237-8.

'By their floating Mill' (p. 106) Written probably between 4 April & 10 Nov. 1806. 'Suggested on the Thames by the sight of one of those floating mills that used to be seen there.' -IF. 10 isle] Ie P2V 33-4 Cf. Drayton, The Muses' Elysium, Nymphal vi, 4-7: 'The wind had no more strength than this, 1That leisurely it blew, 1To make one leaf the next to kiss 1That closely by it grew.'

Star Gazers (p. 107) Probably written between 4 April & 4 Nov. 1806. 28 space 28/29] space 27/28 P2V.

Power of Music (p. 108) Probably written between 4 April & 10 Nov. 1806. 12 guilt-] gilt P2V 13 night,] night P2V 22 her store] for store P2V.

To the Daisy - 'With little here to do or see' (p. 110) Written partly between 16 April & 8 July 1802, but probably not completed until between 6 March 1804 & March 1805. See Wordsworth's note to the Daisy poem in Vol. I (p. 150 above). 7 of1like MS.L. 38 seem'st] seems't P2V. 174 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

To the Same Flower - 'Bright Flower, whose home is every where!' (p. 111) Written partly between 16 April & 8 July 1802, but probably not completed until between March 1804 & March 1805. 23 function] fnuction P2V, most copies.

Incident, Characteristic of a favourite Dog, which belonged to a Friend ... (p. 112) Probably written between 14 Aug. 1805 & 23 Dec. 1806. The dog, 'Music', belonged to Thomas Hutchinson, Mrs Wordsworth's brother.

Tribute to the Memory of the Same Dog - 'Lie here sequester'd ... ' (p.113) Probably written between 14 Aug. 1805 & 23 Dec. 1806. 7 this] that MSL. 8 The Brother to the Brother-all we can. MSL.

Sonnet. Admonition - 'Yes, there is holy pleasure in thine eye!' (p. 115) Written probably between March 1804 & early April 1807.

Sonnet - 'Though narrow be that Old Man's cares, and near' (p. 115) Written probably between 30 Oct. 1806 & early April 1807. The epigraph is from A Midsummer Night's Dream (v i 1~17). The old man, called Mitchell, was employed as a nightwatchman at Coleorton Hall while it was being built. 10 '''Seen the Seven Whistlers, &c." Both these superstitions are prevalent in the midland Counties of England: that of "Gabriel's Hounds" appears to be very general over Europe; being the same as the one upon which the German Poet, Burger, has founded his Ballad of the Wild Huntsman.' P2V: WW n. 13 Hart] Hart, P2V.

Sonnet. A Prophecy. Feb. 1807 (p. 116) Probably written Feb. 1807. 4 Arminius = leader ofthe Germanic tribes who defeated the Romans in AD 9. 10 Those new-born Kings = 12 German princes united in a Confederation of the Rhine, acknowledging Napoleon as their protector, by the Treaty of Paris, 1806. 12 that Bavarian = Frederick Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, whom Napoleon admitted to the Confederation of the Rhine on 11 Dec. 1806.

Sonnet to Thomas Clarkson (p. 116) Probably written 26 March 1807. Thomas Clarkson (1760--1846), a leader of the anti-slavery movement, was a family friend of the Wordsworths. See his The History of . .. the Abolition of the African Slave Trade (London, 1808), & E. L. Griggs, Thomas Clarkson, Friend of the Slaves (London, 1936). NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 175

5 Didst first lead - cf. the poet's later comment: 'This honour has, I am told, been denied to Mr. Clarkson by the Sons of Mr. Wilberforce, in the account of his life lately published by them, and priority of exertion in this cause - (public exertion, I suppose, for with private I have nothing to do) - claimed for their father. The writer of the article upon that work in the Edinburgh Review has also maintained the opinion of the biographers; and, alluding to that sonnet in terms of courtesy, affirms that its author is under a mistake. Although in fact who might be first and who might be second, where such rare and high qualities were put forth by both labourers, is of little moment; yet, in case Mr. C. should not himself think it worth while to take up the matter, I shall avail myself of some future occasion to make public the grounds of evidence upon which I first entertained, and still retain, the belief that I am not in error in having spoken as I have done through every part ofthis humble tribute to the virtues of my honoured friend.' WW(1838) n.

'Once in a lonely Hamlet I sojourn'd' (p. 117) Written 16-17 March 1802; cf. that date-entry in JDW. 55-64 Cf. Coleridge, BL, XXII.

Foresight or the Charge of a Child to his younger Companion (p. 119) Written 28 April 1802; cf. JDW, pp. 116-17.

A Complaint (p. 120) Probably written between 31 Oct. 1806 & early April 1807. 'Town- End, 1806. Suggested by a change in the manner of a friend [i.e., Coleridge].' - IF. The poem anticipates the estrangement between the poets and indicates Wordsworth's distress at what he sees as Coleridge's changed attitude. The imagery recalls that of Coleridge's sonnet To Asra (180n

'I am not One who much or oft delight' (p. 121) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804. 6 Cf. A Midsummer Night's Dream (I i 77), 'withering on the virgin thorns'; & also Comus, 743-4: 'If you let slip time, like a neglected rose / It withers on the stalk .. .' 26 Cf. Collins, Ode, The Passions, 60, 'In notes by distance made more sweet'; & cf. An Evening Walk, 237 32 Cf. Prelude, XIV, 271 & Epitaph (From Chiabrera), 'There never breathed', 1. 24, 'To equalize the lofty and the low.' 44 remote - rhymes with 'sought'. 51~ Inscribed on Wordsworth's statue in Westminster Abbey.

'Yes! full surely 'twas the Echo' (p. 122) Written 15 June 1806 or soon after. 'The echo came from Nab-Scar, when I was walking on the opposite side of Rydal Mere ... ' - IF. See note on To the Cuckoo, p. 172 above. 176 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

To the Spade of a Friend (p. 123) Probably written between 18 Aug. & 26 Oct. 1806. This person was Thomas Wilkinson, a Quaker by religious profession; by natural constitution of mind, or shall I venture to say, by God's grace, he was something better. He had inherited a small estate, and built a house upon it near Yanwath, upon the banks of the Emont .... As represented in this poem, he employed his leisure hours in shaping pleasant walks by the side of his beloved river ... IF 13 He was the author of Tours to the British Mountains (1824) & also wrote a number of poems; see W. H. Kelliher, 'Thomas Wilkinson of Yanworth, Friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge', British Library Journal, VIII, 2 (Autumn 1982), pp.147-67. 29 uselessness] usefulness P2V.

Song, at the Feast of Brougham Castle (p. 124) Probably written between 30 Oct. 1806 & early April 1807. On the poem's title & historical context Wordsworth comments: Henry Lord Clifford, &c. &c., who is the subject of this Poem, was the son ofJohn, Lord Clifford, who was slain at Towton Field, which John, Lord Clifford, as is known to the Reader of English History, was the person who after the battle of Wakefield slew, in the pursuit, the young Earl of Rutland, Son of the Duke of York who had fallen in the battle, 'in part of revenge' (say the Authors ofthe History of Cumberland and Westmorland); 'for the Earl's Father had slain his.' A deed which worthily blemished the author (saith Speed); But who, as he adds, 'dare promise any thing temperate of himself in the heat of martial fury? chiefly, when it was resolved not to leave any branch ofthe York line standing; for so one maketh this Lord to speak.' This, no doubt, I would observe by the bye, was an action sufficiently in the vindictive spirit of the times, and yet not altogether so bad as represented; 'for the Earl was no child, as some writers would have him, but able to bear arms, being sixteen or seventeen years of age, as is evident from this (say the Memoirs of the Countess of Pembroke, who was laudably anxious to wipe away, as far as could be, this stigma from the illustrious name to which she was born); that he was the next Child to King Edward the Fourth, which his mother had by Richard Duke of York, and that King was then eighteen years of age: and for the small distance betwixt her Children, see Austin Vincent in his book of Nobility, page 622, where he writes of them all. It may further be observed, that Lord Clifford, who was then himself only twenty- five years of age, had been a leading Man and Commander, two or three years together in the Army of Lancaster, before this time; and, therefore, would be less likely to think that the Earl of Rutland NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 177

might be entitled to mercy from his youth. - But, independent of this act, at best a cruel and savage one, the Family of Clifford had done enough to draw upon them the vehement hatred ofthe House of York: so that after the Battle of Towton there was no hope for them but in flight and concealment. Henry, the subject of the Poem, was deprived of his estate and honours during the space of twenty-four years; all which time he lived as a shepherd in Yorkshire, or in Cumberland, where the estate of his Father-in-law (Sir Lancelot Threlkeld) lay. He was restored to his estate and honours in the first year of Henry the Seventh. It is recorded that, 'when called to parliament, he behaved nobly and wisely; but otherwise came seldom to London or the Court; and rather delighted to live in the country, where he repaired several of his Castles, which had gone to decay during the late troubles.' Thus far is chiefly collected from Nicholson and Burn; and 1 can add, from my own knowledge, that there is a tradition current in the village of Threlkeld and its neighbourhood, his principal retreat, that, in the course of his shepherd life, he had acquired great astronomical knowledge. 1 cannot conclude this note without adding a word upon the subject of those numerous and noble feudal Edifices, spoken of in the Poem, the ruins of some of which are, at this day, so great an ornament to that interesting country. The Cliffords had always been distinguished for an honorable pride in these Castles; and we have seen that after the wars of York and Lancaster they were rebuilt; in the civil Wars of Charles the First, they were again laid waste, and again restored almost to their former magnificence by the celebrated Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, &c. &c. Not more than 25 years after this was done, when the Estates of Clifford had passed into the family of Tufton, three ofthese Castles, namely Brough, Brougham, and Pendragon, were demolished, and the timber and other materials sold by Thomas Earl ofThanet. We will hope that, when this order was issued, the Earl had not consulted the text ofIsaiah, 58th Chap. 12th Verse, to which the inscription placed over the gate of Pendragon Castle, by the Countess of Pembroke (I believe his Grandmother) at the time she repaired that structure, refers the reader. 'And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer ofpaths to dwell in.' The Earl of Thanet, the present possessor of the Estates, with a due respect for the memory of his ancestors, and a proper sense of the value and beauty of these remains of antiquity, has (I am told) given orders that they shall be preserved from all depredations. P2V:WWn.

7 thirty years = the Wars of the Roses, 1455-85. 9-10 Cf. Butler, Hudibras, II, i, 567-8: 'That shall infuse Eternal Spring, / And everlasting flourishing.' 178 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

27 'This line is from The Battle of Bosworth Field by Sir John Beaumont (Brother to the Dramatist), whose poems are written with so much spirit, elegance, and harmony, that it is supposed, as the Book is very scarce, a new edition of it would be acceptable to Scholars and Men of taste, and, accordingly, it is in contemplation to give one.' P2V: WW n. 38 Deserted, emptied of her best, MSL. 82 It is the same; and God hath will'd MSL. 126 'It is imagined by the people of the Country that there are two immortal Fish, Inhabitants of this Tarn, which lies in the mountains not far from Threlkeld. - Blencathara, mentioned before, is the old and proper name of the mountain vulgarly called Saddle-back.' P2V: WW n. 146-7 'The martial character of the Cliffords is well known to the readers of English History; but it may not be improper here to say, by way of comment on these lines and what follows, that, besides several others who perished in the same manner, the four immediate Progenitors of the person in whose hearing this is supposed to be spoken, all died in the Field.' P2V: WW n.

Lines, Composed at Grasmere - 'Loud is the Vale! the Voice is up' (p. 129) Probably written about early Sept. 1806. Charles James Fox, the Whig statesman, died 13 Sept. 1806. Title - composed] written rdel.l MSL. 10 'I mportuna e grave salma. Michael Angelo.' P2V: WW n. (See 'Rid of a vexing and a heavy load' and notes pp. 143 & 184)

Elegiac Stanzas, Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle . .. (p. 130) Probably written between 20 May & 27 June 1806. 'Sir George Beaumont painted two pictures of this subject, one of which he gave to Mrs Wordsworth .. .' - IF. Title - Stanzasl Verses MSL. 1 Peele (or Pie!) Castle is near Barrow-in-Furness. In the summer of 1794 the poet had spent a month at Rampside nearby. 7 Whene'er] When'er P2V 27 moving] morning MS.L. 35 'I feel that there is something cut out of my life which cannot be restored' - Wordsworth's comment on the death of his brother John (letter to James Losh, 16 March 1805), EY, p. 565 60 mourn.] mourn P2V.

Ode - 'There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream' (p. 133) Probably written between 27 March 1802 & early 1804 (by 6 March). This was composed during my residence at Town-End, Grasmere; two years at least passed between the writing of the first four stanzas and the remaining part. To the attentive and competent reader the whole sufficiently explains itself; but there may be no harm in adverting here to particular feelings or experiences of my own mind on which the structure of the poem partly rests. Nothing NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 179 was more difficult for me in childhood than to admit the notion of death as a state applicable to my own being. I have said elsewhere- A simple child, ... That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? [We are seven, 1-4]

But it was not so much from [feelings] of animal vivacity that my difficulty came as from a sense of the indomitableness of the spirit within me. I used to brood over the stories of Enoch and Elijah, and almost to persuade myself that, whatever might become of others, I should be translated, in something of the same way, to heaven. With a feeling congenial to this, I was often unable to think of external things as having external existence, and I communed with all that I saw as something not apart from, but inherent in, my own immaterial nature. Many times while going to school have I grasped at a wall or tree to recall myselffrom this abyss of idealism to the reality. At that time I was afraid of such processes. In later periods of life I have deplored, as we have all reason to do, a subjugation of an opposite character, and have rejoiced over the remembrances, as is expressed in the lines -

obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, FaIlings from us, vanishings; etc. [Ode, 144-6] To that dream-like vividness and splendour which invest objects of sight in childhood, everyone, I believe, ifhe would look back, could bear testimony, and I need not dwell upon it here: but having in the Poem regarded it as presumptive evidence of a prior state of existence, I think it right to protest against a conclusion, which has given pain to some good and pious persons, that I meant to inculcate such a belief. It is far too shadowy a notion to be recommended to faith, as more than an element in our instincts of immortality. But let us bear in mind that, though the idea is not advanced in revelation, there is nothing there to contradict it, and the fall of Man presents an analogy in its favour. Accordingly, a pre-existent state has entered into the popular creeds of many nations; and, among all persons acquainted with classic literature, is known as an ingredient in Platonic philosophy. Archimedes said that he could move the world if he had a point whereon to rest his machine. Who has not felt the same aspirations as regards the world of his own mind? Having to wield some of its elements when I was impelled to write this Poem on the "Immortality of the Soul", I took hold of the notion of pre-existence as having sufficient 180 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

foundation in humanity for authorizing me to make for my purpose the best use of it I could as a Poet. IF To Catherine Clarkson in Jan. 1815 he wrote: 'This poem rests entirely upon two recollections of childhood, one that of a splendour in the objects of sense which is passed away, and the other an indisposition to bend to the law of death, as applying to our particular case. A Reader who has not a vivid recollection of these feelings having existed in his mind cannot understand that poem.' - MY, II, p. 189. He also observed elsewhere: 'In my Ode on the Intimations of Immortality in Childhood, I do not profess to give a literal representation of the state of the affections and of the moral being in childhood. I record my own feelings at that time - my absolute spirituality, my "all-soulness", if! may so speak. At that time I could not believe that I should lie down quietly in the grave, and that my body would moulder into dust.' - Christopher Wordsworth, Memoirs, II, p.476. Title: In 1807 (P2V) the poem was titled ODE & given a separate title-page with, on the verso, the epigraph Paulo majora canamus ('Let us sing of somewhat more exalted things') - the invocation to the Muses of Sicily (i.e., Pastoral) at the opening of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, which was once regarded as prophecying the birth of Christ & the inauguration of a new age. Wordsworth perhaps recalls Milton, Lycidas, 17: 'Begin and somewhat loudly sweep the string.' In WW(1815) the poem was titled ODE but on the title-page the form was extended to Ode: Intimations ofImmortality from Recollections ofEarly Childhood with, on the verso: 'The Child is Father of the Man; / And I could wish my days to be/Bound each to each by natural piety.' - thus establishing a firm continuity with the poet's earlier self. In WW(1815), My Heart leaps up when I behold was printed as the first poem in Vol. I & the Ode appeared as the last poem in Vol. II. 1-9 Cf. The Mad Monk (1801), lines 9-16: There was a time when earth, and sea, and skies, The bright green vale, and forest's dark recess, When all things, lay before mine eyes In steady loveliness; But now I feel, on earth's uneasy scene, Such sorrows as will never cease; - I only ask for peace; If! must live to know that such a time has been? This poem first published in the Morning Post, 13 Oct. 1800; attributed to Coleridge, it is possibly by Wordsworth. 23 A timely utterance - perhaps the composition of My heart leaps up, but other poems (including Resolution and Independence, & this poem itself) have been suggested. 28 the fields of sleep, - a much discussed line. See Notes and Queries, 7th series: 7 (6 April 1889), p. 278 - 10 (8 NOTES TO THE POEMS VOL. II 181

Nov. 1890), p. 376; or more recently, George Whalley, 'The Fields of Sleep', RES, n.s. IX, 33 (Feb. 1958), pp. 49-53. Hutchinson suggests simply 'the west, those on which the sun has not yet risen, the time being morning', while HD suggests 'the winds from the sleepy fields'. 36-76 Similar notions are to be found in Vaughan (particularly Retreat & Corruption) but also in the work of Traherne. 36-40 Cf. The Idle Shepherd-Boys, 27-30: 'A thousand lambs are on the rocks, 1All newly born! both earth and sky 1 Keep jubilee, and more than all,lThose Boys with their green Coronal, .. .' 41 The fullness of your bliss I feel it all. MS.L. - replacing there the deleted Even yet more gladness, I can hold it all. 57 now,] gone, MS.L. [deleted]. 64 Cf. Prelude (1805), v, 560-2: ' ... the same isthmus which we cross / In progress from our native continent 1To earth and human life -'. 67 Cf. Prelude (1805), 539-45: ... the long probation that ensues, The time of trial ere we learn to live In reconcilement with our stinted powers, To endure this state of meagre vassalage, Unwilling to forego, confess, submit, Uneasy and unsettled, yoke-fellows To custom ... Cf. also Judges, xvi, 25: 'And they called for Samson out of the prison house.' 69 But He / Beholds the light, and whence it flows. MS.L. PW accepts the division of this line as providing the reading intended & giving a rhyme for 'infancy'. 75 perceives] beholds MS.L. [deleted]. 85 Behold the Child - Wordsworth is thinking of his own childhood, & also of Hartley Coleridge; see ToH. C., six Years Old &It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free, where the child is described as having direct access to God, 'God being with thee when we know it not'. 86 four year's] six years' WW(1815) 103 "humourous stage" - cf. Daniel's dedicatory sonnet to Fulke Greville in Musophilus. 108-19 Criticised by Coleridge as an example of 'mental bombast or thoughts and images too great for the subject' - BL, XXII 108 semblance] presence MS.L. [deleted] 116-17 In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave; WW(1820) 117/19 Cf. Wordsworth's Essays upon Epitaphs, I, para. 5: 'If we look back upon the days of childhood, we shall find that the time is not in remembrance when, with respect to our own individual Being, the mind was without this assurance [of immortality].' 120-3 Omitted in WW(1820) because of Coleridge's objection to the 'frightful notion of lying awake in the grave'. But this notion was not frightful to Wordsworth; see JDW, p. 117 (29 April 1802): 'We then went to John's Grove, sate a while at first. Afterwards William lay, and I lay in the trench under the fence - he with his eyes shut. .. . He thought it would be as sweet thus to lie so in the grave, to hear the peaceful sounds of the earth and just to know that our dear friends were near.' Also, cf. the lines: 182 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

I do not wish to lie Dead, dead, Dead without any company; JDW, Append. I, 210-11 123 A place of thought] A living place MSL. 124-5 Omitted MSL. 125 Untam'd pleasures,] heaven-born freedom, WW(1815) 129-30 The world upon thy noble nature seize / With all its vanities MSL. [deleted, 'being' written above 'nature'] 130-1 Cf. Prelude (1805), XIII, 138-43: The tendency, too potent in itself, Of habit to enslave the mind - I mean Oppress it by the laws of vulgar sense, And substitute a universe of death, The falsest of all worlds, in place of that Which is divine and true. 137 benedictions] benediction WW(1827) 140-1 Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, / With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast- WW(1815) 155--6 Throw off from us, or mitigate, the spell / Of that strong frame of sense in which we dwell; MS.L. 156 Uphold us- cherish - have power to make WW(1815) 163 Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, II, 92-3: 'More destroyed than thus / We should be quite abolisht and expire.' 191 Think not of[ Forebode not WW(1836) 194-6 Divine indeed of sense / A blessed influence [deleted] / To acknowledge under you a higher sway / Dear are the Brooks which down their channels fret, / More dear than when I tripp'd lightly as they; MS.L. 198-9 Not unaccompanied with blithe desire / Though many a serious pleasure it inspire. MSL. [deleted] 200 a sober] an awful MS.L. [deleted] 203 the meanest flower - cf. Gray's Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude, 49: 'The meanest floweret of the vale.'

POEMS IN MS.L. NOT RETAINED IN 1807

The Orchard Pathway (p. 140) Probably written between 1800 & late Feb. 1807; in MS.L. but not printed in P2V; first published in 1897. Wordsworth's instructions to the printer read, in part: 'To the first division of the first Volume you will prefix a separate Title Page thus The Orchard Pathway (& in the same page the following motto)' - MSL. The above then followed, but these instructions were withdrawn or ignored, for Vol. I has no separate title page for the first section & no general heading. There are a number of references to the orchard in the garden of Dove Cottage, where Wordsworth wrote so many of these poems. POEMS IN MS.L. NOT RETAINED IN 1807 183

The Tinker (p. 140) Written 27-29 April 1802; in MS.L. but not printed in P2V; first published in 1897. 'In the evening Wm began to write the Tinker' ... 'he is working at the Tinker' - JDW (27 & 28 April 1802), pp. 116 & 117.

'Beaumont! it was thy wish that I should rear' (p. 141) Probably written between 14 Oct. 1803 & 6 March 1804; included in MS.L. but deleted; first published in 1842 & entitled At Applethwaite, Near Keswick. 'This biographical Sonnet, if so it may be called ... [has] been long suppressed from feelings of personal delicacy.' - WW(1842) n. This place was presented to me by Sir George Beaumont with a view to the erection of a house upon it, for the sake of being near to Coleridge, then living, and likely to remain, at Greta Hall near Keswick. The severe necessities lline 8] that prevented this arose from his domestic situation. This little property, with a considerable addition that still leaves it very small, lies beautifully upon the banks ofa rill that gurgles down the side ofSkiddaw, and the orchard and other parts ofthe grounds command a magnificent prospect of Derwent-water, and of the mountains of Borrowdale and Newlands. Many years ago I gave the place to my daughter. IF

'Brook, that hast been my solace days and weeks' (p. 142) Probably written between May & late 1802; included in MS.L. but deleted; first published in 1815.

Pelion and Ossa (p. 142) Probably written between 21 May 1802 & 6 March 1804; in MS.L. but not printed inP2V; first published in 1815 with Wordsworth's incorrect statement that it was published in 1807. 4 'Parnassus, famous Hill! &c. Or whereas Mount Parnasse the Muses brood, Doth his broad Forehead like two horns divide, And the sweet waves of sounding Castaly, With liquid foot doth slide down easily Spenser's translation of Virgil's Gnat' [21-4] (Wordsworth's note to the poem in MS.L. but not printed in P2V.l

'There is a trickling water, neither rill' (p. 143) Probably written between 21 May & late 1802; included in MS.L. but deleted; first published in 1820 as There is a little unpretending Rill. The rill trickles down the hill-side into Windermere, near Lowwood. My sister and I, on our first visit together to this part of 184 Wordsworth's Poems of 1807

the country, walked from Kendal, and we rested to refresh ourselves by the side of the lake where the streamlet falls into it. This sonnet was written some years after in recollection of that happy ramble, that most happy day and hour. IF

'Rid of a vexing and a heavy load' (p. 143) Written probably in 1805, but possibly between Nov. 1805 & early April 1807. It appears, deleted, in MSL. between Lines, Composed at Grasmere ('Loud is the Vale!') & Elegiac Stanzas, Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle; first published in 1842. Translated from Michelangelo's Sonnet em 'Scarco d'un' importuna e grave salma'. In Lines, Composed at Grasmere Wordsworth uses the phrase 'Importunate and heavy load', which he notes as deriving from 'Michael Angelo's importuna e grave salma'.

Ejaculation at the Grave of Burns (p. 144) Probably written 18 Aug. 1803; included in MS.L. but deleted; first published in 1842.

On seeing some Tourists of the Lakes pass by reading . .. (p. 144) Probably written between 1800 & early April 1807 ; included in MS.L. but deleted; first published in 1897. Cf. Coleridge's observation: 'Ladies reading Gilpin's &c. while passing by the very places instead oflooking at the places.' -NBSTC, I, p. 760 (June-July 1800). William Gilpin's guides to various parts of Britain were popular with tourists; see his Observations relative to Picturesque Beauty made in 1772 ... particularly . .. Cumberland and Westmoreland (1786). INDEX OF POEM TITLES

Where a first line serves as a poem's title, it is listed here as well as in the Index of First Lines

page Address to the Sons of Burns 85 Admonition (Yes, there is holy pleasure) 115 Affliction of Margaret, The 24 Alice Fell 39 Among all lovely things my Love had been 33 Anticipation. October, 1803 68

Beaumont! it was thy wish that I should rear 141 Beggars 37 'Beloved Vale!' I said, 'when I shall con 53 Blind Highland Boy, The 98 Brook, that hast been my solace days and weeks 142 By their floating Mill 106

Calais, August, 1802 (Is it a Reed) 57 Calais, August 15th, 1802 (Festivals have I seen) 58 Character of the Happy Warrior 19 Complaint, A 120 Composed after a Journey across the Hamilton Hills 47 Composed at --Castle (Degenerate Douglas!) 84 Composed by the Sea-Side, near Calais (Fair Star of Evening) 56 Composed in the Valley near Dover (Dear fellow Traveller!) 61 Composed Upon Westminster Bridge 53

Ejaculation at the Grave of Burns 144 Elegiac Stanzas, Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle 130 England! the time is come when thou should'st wean 66

Fidelity 10 Foresight 119 From the Italian of Michael Angelo (4 poems): Yes! hope may with my strong desires keep pace 51 No mortal object did these eyes behold 51 To the Supreme Being - The prayers I make 52 Rid of a vexing and a heavy load 143

185 186 INDEX OF POEM TITLES

page Gipsies 94 Glen-Almain 79 Great Men have been among us; hands that penn'd 63 Green Linnet, The 104

Horn of Egremont Castle, The 21 How sweet it is, when mother Fancy rocks 46

I am not One who much or oft delight 121 I griev'd for Buonaparte, with a vain 58 I travell'd among unknown Men 34 I wandered lonely as a Cloud 92 Incident Characteristic of a favourite Dog 112 It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free 55 It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown 96 It is not to be thought of that the Flood 64

King of Sweden, The 59 Kitten and the Falling Leaves, The 27

Lines, Composed at Grasmere 129 London, 1802 (Milton! thou should'st be living) 63 Louisa 9

Matron of Jedborough and her Husband, The 80 Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne 54 My heart leaps up when I behold 90

November, 1806 (Another year!) 69

October, 1803 (One might believe) 65 October, 1803 (These times touch money'd Worldlings) 66 October, 1803 (When, looking on the present face) 67 October, 1803 (Six thousand Veterans) 68 Ode (There was a time) 133 Ode to Duty 34 o Nightingale! thou surely art 89 On seeing some Tourists of the Lakes 144 On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic 59 Once in a lonely Hamlet I sojourn'd 117 Orchard Pathway, The 140

Pelion and Ossa 142 Power of Music 108 Prefatory Sonnet 46 Prophecy, A 116 INDEX OF POEM TITLES 187

page Redbreast and the Butterfly, The 13 Resolution and Independence 41 Rid of a vexing and a heavy load 143 Rob Roy's Grave 73

Sailor's Mother, The 14 September, 1802 (Inland, within a hollow Vale) 61 September 1st, 1802 (We had a fellow-Passenger) 60 Seven Sisters, The 30 She was a Phantom of Delight 12 Small Celandine, The (There is a Flower) 91 Solitary Reaper, The 77 Song, at the Feast of Brougham Castle 124 Sparrow's Nest, The 93 Star Gazers 107 Stepping Westward 78

The Sun has long been set 88 The world is too much with us; late and soon 55 There is a bondage which is worse to bear 65 There is a trickling water, neither rill 143 These words were utter'd in a pensive mood 48 Though narrow be that Old Man's cares, and near 115 Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland 62 Tinker, The 140 To a Butterfly (Stay near me) 88 To a Butterfly (I've watch'd you now) 96 To a Friend, Composed near Calais 57 To a Highland Girl 82 To a Sky-Lark 38 To a Young Lady (Dear Child of Nature) 105 To H. C., Six Years Old 32 To Sleep (0 gentle Sleep!) 48 To Sleep (A flock of sheep) 49 To Sleep (Fond words have oft) 49 To the --(Lady! the songs of Spring) 54 To the Cuckoo 94 To the Daisy (In youth from rock to rock) 7 To the Daisy (Bright Flower) 111 To the Daisy (With little here to do) 110 To the Memory of Raisley Calvert 56 To the Men of Kent 67 To the River Duddon 50 To the Small Celandine (Pansies, Lilies) 15 To the Small Celandine (Pleasures newly found) 17 To the Spade of a Friend 123 188 INDEX OF POEM TITLES

page To Thomas Clarkson 116 To Toussaint L'Ouverture 60 Tribute to the Memory [of a Favourite Dog] 113

When I have borne in memory what has tamed 64 Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go 47 Who fancied what a pretty sight 92 With how sad steps, 0 Moon thou climb'st the sky 39 With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh 50 Written in London, September, 1802 (0 Friend! I know not) 62 Written in March (The cock is crowing) 90 Written in very early Youth (Calm is all nature) 52

Yarrow Unvisited 86 Yes! full surely 'twas the Echo 122 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

page A barking sound the Shepherd hears 10 A famous Man is Robin Hood 73 A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by 49 Age! twine thy brows with fresh spring flowers! 80 Among all lovely things my Love had been 33 An Orpheus! An Orpheus! - yes, Faith may grow bold 108 Another year! - another deadly blow! 69 Art thou the Bird whom Man loves best 13

Beaumont! it was thy wish that I should rear 141 Behold her, single in the field 77 'Beloved Vale!' I said, 'when I shall con 53 Bright Flower, whose home is every where! 111 Brook, that hast been my solace days and weeks 142 By their floating Mill 106

Calm is all nature as a resting wheel 52 Calvert! it must not be unheard by them 56 Clarkson! it was an obstinate Hill to climb 116

Dear Child of Nature, let them rail! 105 Dear fellow Traveller! here we are once more 61 Degenerate Douglas! oh, the unworthy Lord! 84

Earth has not any thing to shew more fair 53 England! the time is come when thou shouldst wean 66 Ere we had reach'd the wish'd-for place, night fell 47

Fair Star of Evening, Splendor of the West 56 Festivals have I seen that were not names 58 Fond words have oft been spoken to thee, Sleep! 49 From Stirling Castle we had seen 86

Great Men have been among us; hands that penn'd 63

High deeds, 0 Germans, are to come from you! 116 High in the breathless Hall the Minstrel sate 124 How sweet it is, when Mother Fancy rocks 46

I am not One who much or oft delight 121 I griev'd for Buonaparte, with a vain 58

189 190 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

page I met Louisa in the shade 9 I shiver, Spirit fierce and bold, 144 I travell'd among unknown Men 34 I've watch'd you now a full half hour 96 I wandered lonely as a Cloud 92 I was thy Neighbour once, thou rugged Pile! 130 In this still place, remote from men 79 In youth from rock to rock I went 7 Inland, within a hollow Vale, I stood 61 Is it a Reed that's shaken by the wind 57 It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free 55 It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown 96 It is not to be thought of that the Flood 64

Jones! when from Calais southward you and I 57

Lady! the songs of Spring were in the grove 54 Lie here sequester'd: - be this little mound 113 Look, five blue eggs are gleaming there! 93 Loud is the Vale! the Voice is up 129

Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne 54 Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour 63 My heart leaps up when I behold 90

No mortal object did these eyes behold 51 Now we are tired of boisterous joy 98 Nuns fret not at their Convent's narrow room 46 o blithe New-comer! I have heard 94 o Friend! I know not which way I must look 62 o gentle Sleep! do they belong to thee 48 o mountain Stream! the Shepherd and his Cot 50 o Nightingale! thou surely art 89 o Thou! whose fancies from afar are brought 32 On his morning rounds the Master 112 Once did She hold the gorgeous East in fee 59 Once in a lonely Hamlet I sojourn'd 117 One might believe that natural miseries 65 One morning (raw it was and wet 14 ORCHARD PATHWAY, to and fro 140

Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies 15 Pelion and Ossa flourish side by side 142 Pleasures newly found are sweet 17 INDEX OF FIRST LINES 191

page Rid of a vexing and a heavy load 143

Seven Daughters had Lord Archibald 30 She had a tall Man's height, or more 37 She was a Phantom of delight 12 Shout, for a mighty Victory is won! 68 Six thousand Veterans practis'd in War's game 68 Spade! with which Wilkinson hath till'd his Lands 123 Stay near me - do not take thy flight 88 Stern Daughter of the Voice of God! 34 Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower 82

That is work which I am rueing 119 That way look, my Infant, lo! 27 The cock is crowing 90 The May is come again: - how sweet 104 The Post-boy drove with fierce career 39 The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed 52 The Sun has long been set 88 The Voice of Song from distant lands shall call 59 The world is too much with us; late and soon 55 There is a bondage which is worse to bear 65 There is a change - and I am poor 120 There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine 91 There is a trickling water, neither rill 143 There was a roaring in the wind all night 41 There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream 133 These times touch money'd Worldlings with dismay 66 These words were utter'd in a pensive mood 48 Though narrow be that Old Man's cares, and near 115 Toussaint, the most unhappy Man of Men! 60 Two Voices are there; one is of the Sea 62

Up with me! up with me into the clouds! 38

Vanguard of Liberty, ye Men of Kent 67

We had a fellow-Passenger who came 60 What crowd is this? what have we here! we must not pass it by 107 What waste in the labour of Chariot and Steed! 144 'What you are stepping westward?' - 'Yea' 78 When I have borne in memory what has tamed 64 When, looking on the present face of things 67 When the Brothers reach'd the gateway 21 Where art thou, my beloved Son 24 192 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

page Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go? 47 Who fancied what a pretty sight 92 Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he 19 Who leads a happy life 140 With how sad steps, 0 Moon thou climb'st the sky 39 With little here to do or see 110 With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh 50

Ye now are panting up life's hill! 85 Yes! full surely 'twas the Echo 122 Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace 51 Yes, there is holy pleasure in thine eye! 115 Yet are they here? - the same unbroken knot 94